To Have and To Hold
by Xochiquetzal
Summary: Marluxia and Larxene get married. Who'da thunk it? 1211. Two-shot. Completel
1. Of Course

"So,"  
We were sheltering from the perishing rain under Marluxia's wide-rimmed umbrella. Below us, the landscape unfolded, saturated by sheets of rain pouring in from the west. The horizon was a haze. It was dusk, midsummer; the air had a kind of humid warmth to it despite the full force of the evening tempest. The poor umbrella looked barely strong enough to cope.  
I shifted slightly to lean closer to Marluxia, cowering from the wet. He'd generously given me most of the umbrella's protection; his right shoulder was jutting right out into the rain, his entire right side soaked to the skin.  
He didn't seem to mind. Marluxia liked the rain. It energised him.  
"So what?"  
"Finally getting our sweet revenge on Xemnas,"  
I laughed. "Yeah. Serves him right for all those bloody mundane missions. And don't even get me started on the reports!"  
Marluxia angled the umbrella into the prevailing wind to keep me dry.  
"What do you want to do? Once we've finished with all this nonentity business," He asked.  
I gazed out across the landscape. We had a good view from the roof we were perched on the side of, at least, we would have done were it not for the lingering storm clouds. The high castle turrets might not have been the best place to sit, but it held special memories for me and Marluxia. Like Axel and Roxas had the bell tower of Twilight Town, this was our secret retreat, our place to chat and laugh together, ever since Marluxia had come home one evening with the most shell shocked expression on his face, and dragged me out of bed just to take me right here, to this very spot to see the vast, stretching view.  
This was Marluxia's homeworld - at least the closest place to a homeworld he'd ever had. But this was the place where he'd grown up - the world he thought had been destroyed when he became a nobody. Somehow - we didn't know how - it had returned, and from then on the little niche in this alcove was ours.  
"I dunno," I said at great length. "Get my heart back, I suppose. And my body. I'm beginning to loose track of all the things we've managed to loose,"  
"Don't we all?" Marluxia chuckled.  
"I don't think Demyx has even noticed he's missing a thing,"  
"His brain, for a start," Marluxia muttered sardonically. "What about you?"  
Marluxia shrugged, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close. Against the cold night air and roof tiles, he was so _warm_.  
I unzipped his heavy Organisation coat to slip my hand inside, and he shivered slightly at my cold touch.  
It always surprised me just how warm Marluxia always managed to be. It stood to reason that Axel was naturally hot to the touch, and that, by the same logic, Vexen was always icily cold, but nothing about Marluxia's inner element should have dictated the warm, cosy energy that he always radiated.  
"Just as long as I'm with you," I added after a while. He smiled.  
"You'd spend the rest of your life with me?"  
"Of course," I said, without hesitating. Why would he bother asking such a question?  
"Wearing a ring?"  
It took me pathetically long to work out what Marluxia meant, and in that time, he'd pulled a little box out of his pocket. Vines held the umbrella over both of us as he opened up the box to reveal a delicate, beautiful silver ring. It was in the shape of a vine, the centrepiece a tiny amethyst rose flanked by emerald leaves and little silver lightning bolts.  
I gasped. He was going to propose to me! In all the years we'd been together, I'd never even imagined that possibility.  
"I was going to do this as soon as we'd finished with Oblivion, but I didn't get the chance," Marluxia continued. "I know it's a lot to ask of you, but..."  
He paused and suddenly I realised that I was holding my breath, tense as a bowstring.  
Marluxia took a deep breath and I gazed into his deep blue eyes, willing him on.  
"I may not have a heart, but Larxene... I _know_ that I love you. Will you marry me?"  
"Of course," I said. I didn't even need to think for the words to tumble from my lips. "Of course I will!"  
And I squeezed him tight even as he slipped the ring onto my finger, and I held him tight and didn't let go and at that moment I knew that from then on, I never would.


	2. I Do

_To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness._

"Does anybody here know of any lawful reason why this man and this woman should not be joined together in holy matrimony? If so, speak now or forever hold your silence,"  
There was a lengthy pause. All eyes were on the bride and groom at the altar of the church.  
"I do,"  
Heads snapped around as a figure somewhere in the middle of the congregation stood up.  
Vexen.  
Marluxia glared at him, lips parted ready to shut the stupid man up, but the nobody held up his hand to call for silence. Everybody was watching as he slipped into the aisle, a box in his hands.  
"Should a couple without hearts really be allowed to marry?"  
There was a murmur amongst the assembled crowd. "They're about to say that they will always love each other, and shouldn't they be telling the truth?"  
Vexen had reached the altar, just a few feet away from Larxene and Marluxia.  
"I _know_ that I would," Marluxia hissed. "Just shut up,"  
Vexen shook his head.  
"Don't you think you deserve to be able to truly love each other, with more than simply hollow ghosts of emotion?"  
"For what do you care?" Larxene demanded quietly.  
Vexen opened the box. Inside, two perfect hearts glittered like rubies.  
Larxene gasped.  
"They're fortified against the darkness," Vexen explained. "And they're yours if you want them,"  
Larxene reached out to touch one of them, but her hand stopped a few millimetres away from its shimmering surface.  
"All you need to do is touch them," Vexen said quietly. "The emotions are already there. They just need a heart to align them,"  
Larxene nodded. She made contact. The heart dissipated into a speck of golden light, then twinkled out.  
"Oh, God,"  
She took an unsteady step backwards and Marluxia neatly caught her.  
"Oh my God," She repeated as she gazed into his eyes. "_Marluxia_..."  
The bemused priest made a gesture as to ask what on Earth was going on, but something stopped him. There was glitter in the air, pure, undiluted emotion, as Marluxia gently reached out and touched the remaining heart. It, too, disappeared, in a kind of inverted, soundless shatter. The stunned silence lasted for eternity, as Vexen slipped quietly back into his seat, mission accomplished.  
Then, Larxene gingerly reached up to place a hand on Marluxia's chest. There was the steady heartbeat she never thought she'd feel, beating softly again as though it had always been there.  
"It- it worked?"  
She realised she was whispering, but her voice seemed so loud. Who knew an excess of three hundred people could be so utterly silent?  
The poor priest coughed, and the moment shattered.  
"I... I'll take that as a no, then,"  
There was a murmur of polite laughter amongst the congregation.  
"Then, do you, Marluxia de la Fontaine, vow to take Larxene as your lawful wedded wife, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, until death do you part?"  
"I do,"  
"And do you, Larxene Brooks, vow to take Marluxia as your lawful wedded husband-"  
"Blah, blah, blah," Larxene interrupted. "Of course I do!"  
Abashed, because this wasn't usually the way weddings worked, the priest took the two delicately crafted rings. He gently slipped them on.  
"I now pronounce you man and wife,"  
She leaned up to kiss Marluxia.  
It was beautiful.  
No - words couldn't describe the pure bliss of a body so long without emotions finally released, a heart eagerly ready to spill out all the love and joy that had been locked up so long it could burst.  
He swept her off her feet, and carried her down the aisle to the cheers and applause of all their friends and family, the entire former- Organisation and their acquaintances, and even confused passers by who had slipped in to watch.

They bundled into the awaiting car, kissing again like they'd never have another chance.  
"I love you,"


End file.
